I often import lecture PDF files into GoodNotes to take notes and add annotations. In many cases, professors or instructors provide materials as text-based PDFs. However, there are also many situations where the files have been converted from PDF → image → PDF, making the text unselectable and turning the entire document into an image.

When a document is image-based, tasks such as translating the content, searching for unfamiliar terms on the web, or asking GoodNotes AI questions about specific text become difficult. Currently, GoodNotes AI’s OCR capabilities for image-based documents are quite limited, and it sometimes misrecognizes text or interprets it as similar but incorrect words, which leads to inaccurate responses.

As a result, I often have to rely on online OCR websites or separate OCR software to convert image-based documents into OCR-enabled PDFs, so that the text becomes searchable and selectable before importing them back into GoodNotes. This workflow is inconvenient and time-consuming.

It would be highly beneficial to have a built-in feature in GoodNotes that allows users to apply OCR directly within the app. Additionally, since imported images may include photos of handwritten notes or presentation slides (such as PPTs), I believe integrating Apple’s Live Text feature into GoodNotes would greatly enhance usability.